<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>I was down at Old Faithful for a while this morning but Grand was about all I "saw" as a massive steam cloud. Cold rain pretty much all day, a bit of snow mixed in at times. I did talk a bit to Mike Keller and he says that the odd Grotto-Giant behavior we saw (and I described) the other day sounds similar to what he's seen following consecutive Grotto marathons.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Then there was today's bear. After the bear (a griz) made its journey through virtually all parts of the Upper Basin (starting behind the Lodge and finally affording me some pretty good photos near Biscuit Basin), I headed for Norris. I went there because of reports about Vixen being active. What I found makes me wonder about what might be going on in the Back Basin -- I don't think it's a disturbance, but something:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Echinus -- I was over by Steamboat when I heard it splashing, so I zipped over. What I found was a bunch of people leaving. From the one person who stayed I learned that he'd been there for about 1 1/2 hours and what I'd heard was the third episode of two or three bursts 8 or 10 feet high during that time. The pool was about 6 inches below overflow. The water level hadn't changed. I suppose Echinus finally erupted sometime, but not within the next hour.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Veteran -- I do not recall ever seeing Veteran with anything other than clear water. Today it was richly opalescent blue with colloidal silica AND appeared to be in perpetual eruption, jetting outward from the top vent never farther than 10 feet or so. Here's a photo:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><IMG SRC="cid:X.MA1.1115508069@aol.com" style="WIDTH: 288px; HEIGHT: 216px" height=216 width=288 vspace=5 comp_state="speed" DATASIZE="15512" ID="MA1.1115508069" ></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Corporal -- About as ugly as it can be, a dark gray color to the formation and the water. But erupting quite strongly -- I saw a burst of over 2 feet -- and pouring out enough water to flow all the way to, under, and past the new boardwalk at the trail junction and even (though I didn't see this, the gray runoff channel is there) on to Tantalus Creek.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Vixen -- Active, as was reported yesterday by Steve Eide. Interval are 3 to 8 minutes, durations 20 to 30 seconds. Some jets reach up 10 feet or so though most bursts are much smaller. Some eruptions must be considerably stronger than those I saw, as none of mile formed a pool beyond the sinter "cone", but there was a good-sized pool there when I arrived.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Pearl -- eruping violently from a slightly low level. The flat part of its formation inside the outer rim is an odd peachy-pink color.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Porkchop -- opalescent blue, bursting up to 3 feet.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Monarch -- still doing something intermittent. The clay deposits I described two weeks ago are now yellow-green with sulfur, the pool is a beautiful green. On arrival there was only slight bubbling and the clay was exposed. Gradually the bubbling increased. Boiling ensued (the nature of the bubbles tells me it was probably superheated) and some surges/splashes reached 2 to 3 feet high. The water level rose and covered the clay. And then it calmed down. I think this is all the thing does, but at least it is something.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Perhaps going along with some sort of disturbance/zap/upset, I watched Steamboat for about 5 minutes (before hastening toward Echinus) and saw almost nothing except rather weak North Vent spray.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>